Battles - Battle of the mirrors

To introduce Battles, the four excellent biographies you can find on their official site would be more than enough. We'll just give you a few names to try to pin down coordinates that, indeed, come into focus for a moment before slipping away again. Recently formed, Battles are almost a supergroup: they're made up of Tyondai Braxton (a rising name in a certain strand of New York art music, and son of none other than Anthony Braxton), Ian Williams (whose distinctive guitar work has served Don Caballero and Storm & Stress), John Stanier (drummer for Helmet and Tomahawk) and Dave Konopka (the least well-known of the four, on bass and guitar, formerly of Lynx).

We met with John Stanier and Ian Williams in two separate sessions.

Hi John, how are you?

Exhausted: I've been up since five and I've come straight from Berlin. At half past six we have to leave because we've got another flight to catch. What time is it now?

Five thirty.

(looks at me with a worried expression) Then we have to hurry.

All right. Are you ready? Shall we start?

Yes.

All the members of Battles were already fairly well known before joining this project together. What made you want to be part of the same project?

When we formed the band we had no idea how our songs would end up sounding.

What happened was that Ian met Ty while they were both recording their solo records, so they started thinking about doing something together and brought Dave on board too. They worked together and played two or three shows. And that's how Battles was born.

Then I came along.

We started working together very slowly because what was coming out was really strange: we were completely different people, with totally different backgrounds, different ages and different places we came from. We went into the studio without knowing what would come out of it.

Was it a project already geared toward recording an album, or was it just a “transitional project” between your previous experiences and a hypothetical solo career?

At first it was just a simple project, especially before I joined. Once the drums were added … I won't say it turned into a proper band, but the idea of being a band took shape.

It took us a while to get something decent, and it was only then that we felt like a band and thought we could play a few shows. After a couple of shows in New York, we thought about doing a tour, so we wrote more songs and recorded an album.

What about record labels? I imagine you had several contract offers.

We had songs and needed to record them if we wanted to go on tour, so we picked a tiny east coast label and another tiny west coast label and put out two EPs and a single. From that point on we were constantly on tour until Warp got in touch with us. We signed a deal with them to reissue the EPs in Europe and head out on the European tour.

Tell me about your musical evolution, from Helmet to Battles, passing through Tomahawk and Mark of Chain?

Did these previous experiences bring something to Battles? Has being part of Battles changed the way you make music?

Totally. Yes, absolutely.

When Ian called me, the attitude of the project was completely open, it wasn't like: "Join my rock band", it was more like: "Come on over and let's see what happens."

When I said yes, the only thing that was clear was that I was going to do something I'd never done before, so obviously my approach was completely different. From that point on the opportunity seemed huge to me: it's not something that happens to a lot of musicians. I feel very lucky to have been involved in all this, especially at that point in my musical career: it was something completely new and fresh.

Dealing with a genre you didn't know, especially when you were no longer in your twenties, didn't that scare you a bit?

I've never worried about whether other people liked what I was doing. (smiles) … Ok, that's not entirely true, obviously everyone wants other people to like what they do, but you can't always take into account what other people think: being an artist, in a way, also means being "selfish" because it's you creating something that other people then draw from. … If that makes any sense…

No, it didn't scare or worry me or anything, but it took a while, a couple of weeks, before I got to the point of thinking: "I think I like this, I'm not sure, but I think I like it" and another couple to be happy to be part of the project.

John, you've been part of the music scene for quite a while now, how do you think the independent music scene has changed since your debut?

Oh! Wow! It's changed so much that it's hard for me to answer. Nowadays there's a lot of money to be made in independent music, and that's definitely changed everything.

When I started out, I never would have ever dreamed of playing for thousands and thousands and thousands of people and selling tons of records and going on endless tours.

I think it can all be summed up with the theory of "Before Nirvana and after Nirvana".

Do you feel part of the current New York music scene?

On one hand, I don't think we're part of it, also because New York is a huge city, with an extremely rich musical history and a consistently very high quality level. There isn't really a particular "New York scene". Maybe there is, but we're definitely not part of it.

On the other hand, there's a lot of New York in our music. Absolutely. But for us it's not something imposed, it's "subliminal". New York is a city that's very hard to live in: it's expensive, it's stressful…

Well, I imagine the place you live in inevitably influences what you write.

I'd like to be able to tell you that Battles would be the same if they lived in the middle of a forest, but I'm not sure that's true. I can't tell you why it's not true, but I know it isn't. Does that make sense?

… It seems to me…

The fact that we're from New York and that we live in New York doesn't mean Battles are the official sound of New York City, but somehow it's part of it and it's reflected in the music.

The first time you put vocals into your songs was during your live shows…

Actually there are a few vocals on the EPs. Just a little.

I think all of us always wanted to use vocals a bit more than they were present on the EPs…

We get interrupted: it's time for John and Ian to switch places…

We were talking about how you started using vocals.

There were already vocal parts on our EPs, but we "buried" them. We were doing our first songs and still had to figure out how we should sound. All the vocals got pushed into the background.

For this record it was easier to "bring them into focus" and support them.

Figuring out how to fit them in was a challenge, then, for Atlas, John came in with this shuffle beat and Ty worked on it for a while until he had the vocal line and sang it.

How have Battles evolved from the beginning until now?

For the first show we played, the band was called "I Will" (which is me) and back then it was Dave, Ty and me, they were helping me out with this project of mine, and when John joined I wanted it to stop being my solo project and become a real band.

I think at first the others looked at me as if they wanted me to tell them what I wanted from them, but this record is much more mature and we all contributed equally, 25% each, including on the songwriting side. That's also why it sounds so much better.

Now we trust each other a lot more. There isn't one person who takes on the whole songwriting process.

Right, how do Battles songs come about? Is there one person who kicks off the process, or do you get together in the studio and improvise until a good song comes out?

…There's not just one way it happens. Sometimes you bring in two microphones, put them in the room and record while you play for a couple of hours, then you listen back to the recording and see if something clicks. Of course you also have to remember how you played it!

Other times, though, you come in with a loop and you know that's going to be the structure you build the song around.

That way we're always open to new experiences and new outcomes.

How much of your records is improvisation and how much is written music?

Honestly, we could consider it all written. You know, a lot of people think it's all improvised, but that's not the case.

If you saw us play live, you'd see us play our songs as "melodic expressions" that sometimes vary while keeping the same melody.

Ian, can you read music?

No. I never studied it. John and Tyondai can: they actually went to music school.

How do you decide on song titles, and how did you choose "Mirrored"?

The titles… they mean something, but only vaguely: there's no story behind them, the songs aren't about girls dumping us, nor do they carry any particular message… I honestly couldn't tell you what they're about, the lyrics are very vague.

Compared to the EPs, "Mirrored" is a decidedly less electronic record. Is that a natural progression or a different approach to the album?

When we recorded the EPs we still had to figure out which direction to take, then we toured for about two years, and playing live is the best practice you can get - doing it every night made us grow a lot as a band.

I think we've become a pretty good live band.

The EPs have several parts made with computer and synthesizer, and I think it's a good record if you take it for what it is, but for "Mirrored" we wanted a somewhat more "rock" sound that would translate better live.

We still rely on loops and the gear is still the same, but we've definitely improved as a band.

Can you tell me about your musical evolution, starting with Don Caballero and going through Storm and Stress to Battles?

With Storm and Stress I'd taken a direction I thought would get me somewhere, but once I found myself in Battles I didn't want to limit myself to just one direction, I wanted to explore new sounds.

With Storm and Stress we were constantly trying to dig deeper and deeper, whereas with Battles I can stay on the surface: the sound is simply the sound, and there's no meaning much beyond that.

Has being part of Battles changed the way you make music?

Yes. The great thing about Battles is that it's not something I'd want to do, or could do, on my own — it forces me into new situations.

If I were left alone with my effects pedals, I'd end up with 30-minute songs with no rules at all, but instead I've always got John telling me: "No! It has to be shorter!"

If we're still here, it's because we're very different people, with different ideas that constantly push us to look at music in different ways.

You know, we're not a band where someone says: "This band is mine and this is how it's going to be." That's not the case here: Battles is a real band.

We've only got a minute, then I have to let you go. Can I ask you a couple of quick-fire questions?

Shoot!

Freddy or Jason?

I'd say Jason.

“Dogville” o “The Village”?

I'm not sure I've seen “The Village”… so I'd say “Dogville”.

Courtney Whore or Courtney Love?

What's the difference?

Courtney Whore is the one who insults the audience, beats you up if you look at her, or takes her shirt off live on TV. Courtney Love is the one who goes to Valentino fashion shows, dresses in Dolce & Gabbana, keeps taking drug tests to prove she's clean, and records pop albums.

I'd say I prefer Courtney… Whore? Yes.

Beatles or Battles?

(laughs)… The Beatles were pretty good, but I'd have to say Battles (breaks into a huge smile).

(Milan, March 7, 2007)

Italian dates of the Battles tour:

31/05/2007 – Milan (Circolo Magnolia)

01/06/2007 – Rome (Dissonanze, Palazzo dei Congressi)

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